Are Toronto buyers negotiating more after 44 days on market?

The surprise was that comparable Toronto listings could sit for 44 days and still behave very differently. Some sellers kept the original price while others made changes, which makes the raw days-on-market figure tempting but not especially useful on its own.

I am looking at new-build flats advertised from about C$1,037,000 to C$1,555,000. Negotiating now might catch a motivated seller; waiting could produce reductions or a larger choice of new listings. The problem is that I have little completed-sale evidence, and uncertainty over a building’s reserve position appears to narrow buyer interest.

Has anyone found recent achieved sales with their listing histories intact? I would want them from tightly defined neighbourhood boundaries and from genuinely similar buildings. Price changes, relisting activity and reserve clarity would probably tell me more about seller motivation than the 44 days alone.

At 44 days I would negotiate, but I wouldn’t choose a discount solely from that number. The stronger clue is what happened during those days: no change, one meaningful reduction, repeated small cuts, or a withdrawal and relisting. A seller who has already adjusted may be more realistic, while an unchanged listing could mean either confidence or no urgency.

How tightly are you defining the neighbourhood? In Toronto, crossing even the boundary you are using for comparison can mix very different buildings and buyer pools. I’d also separate genuinely comparable units by condition, layout and reserve clarity before looking at the gap between asking and completed prices. Otherwise the apparent negotiating room may just reflect a weaker property.

I’d push back on treating 44 days as a clean measure. Withdrawn and relisted stock can make a listing look newer than the property’s actual exposure, while public asking history may not capture every change cleanly. Track continuous exposure where possible and note when the first price cut occurred. That can be more revealing than the current days-on-market figure.

Buyer financing matters too. An ambitious offer is less useful if the buyer cannot support the price or needs terms the seller dislikes. I’d decide the maximum price from completed comparable sales and the specific unit’s condition, then make a defensible offer rather than automatically subtracting a percentage because it reached day 44.

New-listing volume and seller motivation should be considered together. If similar units are arriving while older ones remain available or get withdrawn, the buyer has alternatives. If little comparable stock is coming up, waiting for a cut could simply lose the better unit.

I’d ask for a short list of genuinely completed nearby sales, their last known asking prices, and how closely each matches the building and unit. Even two or three relevant comparisons would be more useful than a broad average.

That helps. I was treating the 44 days as the main signal, but the cut timing and possible relisting history seem more important. I’ll narrow the boundary, exclude units with materially different condition or unclear reserve information, and compare only completed sales that are genuinely similar. Then I can make an offer tied to those differences rather than applying one blanket discount across the C$1,037,000–C$1,555,000 range.

That is a better approach. I’d still keep one eye on the seller’s behaviour after the offer: a quick counter can indicate there is a workable range, while no movement may simply mean the seller is prepared to wait. Set your limit before that exchange, especially if financing is involved, and don’t let a long listing history turn an unsuitable unit into an attractive one.